Army Paralympic Shooter Helps Pioneer Prosthesis

LONDON, — A sharpshooter who competed in the 2012 Paralympic Games this week also helped develop an innovative prosthesis that has helped countless wounded warriors.

Sgt. 1st Class Joshua Olson, a member of the 2012 Paralympic shooting team and the Army Marksmanship Unit, missed qualifying for the finals in the 10-meter air rifle prone competition at the Paralympic Games Sept. 1. He shot 595 points in the qualification rounds, but nine of his fellow competitors shot a perfect 600 score. Then Sept. 4 he shot 588 in the 50-meter prone rifle competition, tying for 16th place.

In October 2003, Olson was wounded in Iraq by a rocket-propelled grenade during an ambush. From there, he was medevaced to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, and was there for about eight days.

After that, he said, he woke up at the former Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C., where he spent about 18 months.

While at Walter Reed, Olson traveled to Florida to get fitted for a prosthetic leg.

In discussing the origin of the “Olson Socket,” the sergeant is quick to note he didn’t invent the prosthesis himself.

“I was just the first guy to wear it and help make it work,” he said. “In late 2004, I went down to Orlando, Fla., where Prosthetics and Associates is, and (met) a gentleman by the name of Dennis Clark.”

“Those guys got together (with) myself and the actual designers, and originally drew it up on a bar napkin,” he revealed. “And we tried it out, and we put it together and made it work.”

Olson said as soon as he got back to Walter Reed with the prosthesis, officials there immediately began sending service members down to Florida to be fitted for the same prosthesis and socket system.

“I was very fortunate and very blessed they named it after me, but I just happened to be the first guy to ever have one,” he said.

As part of his recovery, Olson tried his hand at shooting as a form of therapy.

“In my stay at Walter Reed, there was an outdoor event every day in occupational therapy — shotgun shooting,” he said. “I went out and shot sporting clay one day. I hit my first 49 out of 50.”

Olson said his shooting caught the attention of the program director at Walter Reed, who contacted the Army Marksmanship Unit at Fort Benning, Ga., to see if a position was available for a competitive shooter or marksmanship instructor.

“I went down to Fort Benning from Walter Reed, had a tryout and was very successful,” Olson said. “(I) got along great with the coaches and the other shooters on the team.”

Olson was then assigned to the marksmanship unit in June 2005 and “slowly, but surely, started shooting, and I’m here today,” he added.

Olson regrets that many Soldiers in his position wished to stay in the military despite their injuries, but were unable to.

“There’s a lot of guys that have been wounded that want to continue to serve,” he said. “I’m very blessed and very fortunate to be able to do that.”

“I hope I inspire, not even (just) wounded Soldiers, but other Soldiers,” he continued, “just to (let them know), ‘Hey, you might be going through something tough, such as (post-traumatic stress disorder), but if you work hard and give yourself goals to work on, it helps you get out of bed every day (and) helps you work hard and overcome things in your life.'”

In discussing the origin of the “Olson Socket,” the sergeant is quick to note he didn’t invent the prosthesis himself.

“I was just the first guy to wear it and help make it work,” he said. “In late 2004, I went down to Orlando, Fla., where Prosthetics and Associates is, and (met) a gentleman by the name of Dennis Clark.”

“Those guys got together (with) myself and the actual designers, and originally drew it up on a bar napkin,” he revealed. “And we tried it out, and we put it together and made it work.”

Olson said as soon as he got back to Walter Reed with the prosthesis, officials there immediately began sending service members down to Florida to be fitted for the same prosthesis and socket system.

“I was very fortunate and very blessed they named it after me, but I just happened to be the first guy to ever have one,” he said.

Olson credited his military service for the discipline that got him here to compete in the Paralympic Games.

“Military service has prepared me for the Paralympics by teaching me determination, patience and just overall hard work,” he said. “My goal for the Paralympics is to be able to perform my best, to perform at the level I know I can. If I do that, I should be on the medal stand.”

The key to his success, Olson said, is practicing, staying focused and concentrating on the fundamentals of his sport.

“For me, my biggest challenge is the ability to stay focused during the entire match,” he said. “So I do some mental exercises, a lot of imagery and some visualization exercises. This sport is 95 percent mental and five percent physical.

“I’ve been training a long time for this,” he added. “There’s really no shooting drill, no mental exercise or anything you can really do to prepare for actually sitting there.”

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